INSTANT MBA: Your Brain Can Only Hold So Much Chaos

Today’s advice comes from our interview with David Allen Company’s CEO Mike Williams. “Chaos creates a fog that affects our decisions. For me, clarity comes when you get things off your chest by writing them down.”

Williams says that we often overestimate the amount of storage ability our brains can hold and when we write down our thoughts and ideas, we are able to look at them objectively.

Then try to figure out what those thoughts mean to you. Why does it have your attention at the moment? For example, if you’re continuously thinking “business plan,” write this down. It could mean you think the company needs a new product plan.

Currently the CEO of David Allen Company, a global training and consulting organisation, Williams formerly was the Director of Education Services for GE Healthcare IT Imaging and was with the company for 20 years.

He says once you write down your thoughts and ideas, you can almost let those distractions go because you’re now ready for situation awareness and situation adjustment.

From here, “you make the decision and act on it.”

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